Stripe and OpenAI joined efforts to launch an instant checkout feature in ChatGPT, introducing the Agentic Commerce Protocol.
Stripe and OpenAI have unveiled a transformative advancement in digital commerce and virtual assistance: Instant Checkout within ChatGPT, powered by the newly developed Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP).
This collaboration allows U.S.-based ChatGPT users to purchase products directly from within the chat interface, streamlining the shopping experience. As eligible users ask ChatGPT for product recommendations, it will also provide a durect purchase link along with the product selection. This way, if chatbot users are ready to purchase what they were looking for right away, they now may complete the transaction seamlessly without leaving the chat.
Initially, this service supports single-item purchases from U.S.-based Etsy sellers, with plans to expand to over a million Shopify merchants, including brands like Glossier, Vuori, Spanx, and SKIMS. OpenAI claims that product search results that will be presented for purchase are organic and unsponsored, ranked on relevance to the user based on previous interaction history.
At the core of this innovation is the ACP, an open standard co-developed by Stripe and OpenAI. The ACP facilitates secure, frictionless transactions by allowing applications like ChatGPT to initiate payments without exposing users’ payment credentials. This is achieved through the use of a Shared Payment Token (SPT), ensuring that users maintain control over their payment information while enjoying a streamlined purchasing process.
This development marks a significant shift in the e-commerce landscape, integrating conversational AI with direct purchasing capabilities. By embedding payment functionalities within the chat interface, Stripe and OpenAI are setting a new standard for how consumers engage with digital commerce.
At the same time, such an integration, already familiar to customers in the form of shoppable links at social media, paves the way for new types of agentic AI commerce interactions. The new technology creates a fully integrated commerce loop between businesses, individual customers, and AI agents, where merchants connect their platforms to instant checkout systems, AI agents handle recommendations and transactions, and customers enjoy a smooth, one-step buying experience.
Potentially, this setup can further lead to AI-to-AI agentic payments, everyone is talking about today. In well-orchestrated agentic payment systems, AI itself, not just the human, can initiate, negotiate, and complete financial transactions on user’s behalf. However, the existence of such commercial ecosystems is possible only as both technologies and regulations mature to properly secure such autonomous transactions and bear responsibility for any mishandling of customer finances.
